something is wrong with my water params and i need help.

So far I see two things that I think will help your paras.
1. You need more LR in your DT
2. Your refug needs time to "kick-in".

Which brings me to my next question. How old is your refug?


Luna

 

First of all do you use Prime or another chemical water conditioner? They bind up with all of the bad stuff and not necessarily remove it, and I've heard at least with some chemicals they can give false positive readings.

I'm going to guess it's the test kits as well probably, but I would do something to test it out. Clean every test tube out really well with hot tap water, then clean them out with RO water if you can get some, otherwise just make sure and dry them off really well with clean paper towel, the caps too.

Then take each kit and run 2 tests with each, one after another and make sure you're reading and following the directions to the letter. Make sure you can get consistent results from one test to the next to make sure it isn't your testing procedure that isn't the problem.

If you can get consistent results then I would try another test kit, depending on your budget you may just get one new test kit preferably by another brand, Salifert or Elos are my preferences right now, and see if it reads differently, if it does show up differently then I would suspect all of them to be off.

Since your livestock seem to be OK right now I wouldn't worry too much, just work through it and make sure everything's actually kosher. But try and get everything doublechecked as soon as you can.

 

i put prime in there because i had problems before.

 

hmm. personally i would throw all the test kits in the trash and never test for anything again,and i would start religously changing 10% of you total systems volume every week.
unless you're doing sps that is in that case i would just break down the tank and throw a couple hundred dollar bills in the fireplace every week and call it a wash

 

thats ok, just START doing preferably weekly water changes. i have a 55 gallon display and 10 refugium. i do 5 gallons a week. it is easy and your tank needs it.

 

ummm ok....

 

looking at your pics i couldn't see any powerheads in there... do you have any? if not, you probably want to get the water circulating a little bit better, cause the filter alone isn't enough.

 

Hey Gexx. Water Changes have their place. But I think the first thing that should be done is to get us results from a different test kit. Find another LFS, or buy a new one. At least for Ammonia and Nitrates.

It very well could be false and your params are fine - those pics looked really far off and you say your livestock is fine. If that is the case, then I do not see any reason to do anything different. But need the results first

If they come back as terrible, then you have to reevaluate some of your practices. If they come back fine, then things are well.


More LR would not hurt. I would add several pounds of dry base if it were me. Regardless of the results.


If they do come back as really bad, water changes are just band-aids that can only dilute the nasty, not remove the source. So you will have to do them until you can fix the source. Ultimately, your tanks natural balance should keep ammonia and nitrates at bay - not water changes. I think you already know that though.


If you are using tap water - it is kind of a catch 22. You will tend to have more nitrates and phosphates so you have to do more WC, but tap has nitrates and phosphates in it... so is it even helping? So if you do have to do water changes to get this under control, do not use tap as it is probably the source to begin with.

 

im not using tap and im hoping to get water tests for christmas.

 

r u secretly asking us to get u test kits for xmas?